FINAL/OT | Round 3, Game 3 | Friday June 18, 2021

Canadiens lead series 2-1

Canadiens Lineup

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

Artturi Lehkonen – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Joel Armia – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Erik Gustafsson – Jon Merrill

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Tomas Tatar, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren, Brett Kulak, Alexander Romanov

Alex Belzile, Laurent Dauphin, Lukas Vejdemo, Jesse Ylonen, Cale Fleury, Otto Leskinen, Xavier Ouellet, Cayden Primeau, Michael McNiven

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Jake Evans (concussion)

Dominique Ducharme

Game Report

The Canadiens received shocking news on Friday that interim head coach Dominique Ducharme tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to isolate at home. Luke Richardson was forced into the role of bench boss, a position he hadn’t held since be the head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators in 2016. Perhaps the more difficult adjustment was Sean Burke who rotated the defence, a tricky responsibility given that the Canadiens don’t trust the third pairing to play together.

The Golden Knights were committed to having a strong start to the game, and that they did, outshooting Montreal 17-3 in the first period. That margin the largest shot differential in the opening frame of a 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs game. Carey Price was sensational fending off nine high-danger scoring chances in the first period alone.

Knights Dominate

Vegas continued their domination in the middle frame opening the scoring just three minutes into the second period. At this point, the Golden Knights were outshooting the Canadiens 22-4 before a very quiet Bell Centre. But Cole Caufield tied the game 38 seconds later after a solid defensive play and lead pass from Nick Suzuki. 

Montreal did not register their 10th shot until the 45th minute of the game. The Knights continued to press in the third period and Price had to stand on his head to keep the Canadiens in the game. Price made a miraculous save after another in this game but his reach save on Alex Tuch was truly special.

At the other end, Marc-Andre Fleury had little to do for the majority of the game. With 1:55 left in the third period Fleury’s careless mishandling of the puck was a gift-wrapped goal to tie the contest by Josh Anderson. And that brought the Canadiens to overtime in a game they had no business being in.

As TSN’s Craig Button said, “The officiating in this game is the worst (officiated) game I’ve seen in this year’s playoffs. It was awful.” And that continued in overtime as all four officials on the ice apparently missed a nasty high stick by Jonathan Marchessault which cut Corey Perry, bloodying his face. With Perry in the dressing room getting stitched up, Anderson ended the contest on a nice setup from Paul Byron and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. 

Up Next

Carey Price was the obvious choice for first star, finishing the game with 43 saves. Price is the only goalie in Canadiens franchise history with multiple 40+ save overtime wins on home ice. 

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